We Dream of the Future Generation
by Dark-Lady-Devinity
Summary: Amber of Snippy was a future descendant. But every decendant requires female ancestors. This is one possible story of Captain's squad and the women that will help shape the future. Warnings for some minor sexuality (it furthurs the plot!) and some language.
1. Chapter 1

**We Dream of the Future Generation**

_Dark Lady Devinity_

**An: **This is an overly ambitious attempt of mine and I won't be surprised if no one likes where it goes. Also, don't read if you don't know who Amber is. There will be spoilers. Especially my next sentence.

Amber of Snippy seems to be a future descendant of Snippy's. And then there's the stained glass portrait of the Architect that clearly looks to be Engie. So the question is: where the heck did the team find the women necessary for there to be a future generation of Snippys and civilization in general? This is one potential theory.

**Warnings: ** (blunt) language and sexuality.

**Chapter One**

"Look at that delectably shiny building. Let's go there!" Captain announced, pointing out a very modern warehouse.

"It doesn't look anywhere near as run down as the other buildings." Snippy responded. "I don't like it."

"Captain, there's multiple shiny buildings." Pilot cried gleefully.

"That… seems suspicious." Engie said.

The four members of Captain's army had been out savaging for various supplies. It had also been a social excursion as Captain was insistent that the team do more things together. After much complaining and tea-related threats, Engie and Snippy had found themselves agreeing to explore a previously unknown part of the wasteland. That was how they found a series of heavy-duty concrete buildings with hi-tech generators attached to them. There was little age or decay on the buildings although it appeared that they had experienced some sort of attack.

"What do you think those buildings could be?" Snippy asked.

"A unicorn making factory." Pilot replied sagely.

"I think it's a little more probable that this compound belonged to the Good Directorate. Some of the facilities were made to be nuke proof." Engie said. "Although, well, it could be a genetic engineering facility. That sort of thing isn't necessarily ethical but there was a growing demand for designer pets. The Good Directorate was planning to meet that demand."

"So it is a unicorn making factory." Pilot cried.

"Maybe." Engie admitted. "But I seriously doubt it."

"Then this is all the more reason to explore that building. To zee unicorns!" Captain announced. He began to march towards the nearest facility with Pilot trailing along beside him.

Snippy looked determinately at the building and then quickly followed after Captain and Pilot.

"You're actually going in there?" Engie called after him.

Snippy paused, and then turned around to face Engie. "If what you say is true then there could be other survivors in those buildings."

"Maybe." Engie said.

"But you seriously doubt it? So do I. But I have to check out even the slimmest of possibilities." Snippy explained.

Looking for survivors was the most responsible thing to do and Snippy was always responsible. Engie wasn't sure if he wanted to deal with more people who could have a persona vendetta against him. Still, he did not want to be left alone in the wasteland either. Engie decided to follow the others. At the very least, if there were hostile survivors, Snippy would be the first to be attacked.

Captain and Pilot must have shared Engie's thoughts for they were waiting outside the closest building's open door. When Snippy arrived with Engie close behind him, the two crazier members of the team grabbed Snippy's arms and thrust him through the doorway.

Engie, Captain and Pilot waited for a few moments. There was no sound of screaming, fighting or general dying coming from the building. Captain declared it safe and Pilot, then Engie, then zee Captain himself walked into the building.

They were greeted by a fierce blue glare and highly technical pieces of equipment. The machinery looked fairly recent and undamaged. Engie ran his hands across a panel in marvel, ignoring Snippy's angry tirade in the background. Suddenly the panel lit up and a needle shot out. The needle quickly jabbed Engie in the arm, managing to get through the thick material of his coat and into his flesh. The needle then safely retreated before Engie had a chance to cry out. When Pilot and Snippy made verbal sounds of alarm Engie knew that they had been attacked by needles as well.

"What was that?" Snippy asked, rubbing his arm.

"It was acupuncture mein snippy-sniper. We need more to properly align ourselves!"

"You were attacked too?" Engie asked as he watched Captain mime Snippy's arm rubbing. He was surprised that Captain's luck had allowed the assault to occur. Although it probably meant that no one had been poisoned.

"Maybe we should get out of here." Snippy said as Pilot whined, "I don't like needles."

"No, not just yet." Engie said.

"_You _want to stay?" Snippy asked incredulously.

Engie ignored the barb. "I want to know what those needles just did. I think they may have taken blood samples."

Pilot backed up from the machine. "There aren't any unicorns here." He said nervously before accidently bumping into a man sized container. The container fell open and a body rolled out. Milliseconds later its head followed. Pilot jumped, Engie screamed, Snippy grasped his heart and even Captain seemed to react. The body was decomposed but flesh still clung to it and it was obviously male.

"He looks like ANNET tried to hug him." Engie said with horror.

"Excuse me?" Snippy asked.

"You didn't see her when she went haywire. She gave everybody what she called 'hugs.' They all ended up dying very painfully." Engie explained.

"If ANNET was here then there can't be any survivors. " Snippy said. "Now can we go?"

Engie still wanted to know what those needles had done to them but he was terrified at the idea that ANNET may still have had a drone in the area. The decision was made for them though when an unexpected explosion rocked the building. Engie took off running for the exit as flames leapt up from among the machinery. Captain calmly walked to the exit while Snippy and Pilot covered his back, weapons ready in case of attack.

No attack ever came and everyone made it safely home.

**XxX**

A week later, Engie was still pondering the nature of the warehouses. They were obviously Good Directorate buildings if their age and relative state of wholeness were anything to go by. The fact that the buildings were located in an area that had been wasteland even before ANNET went crazy implied that those factories weren't strictly legal. Engie was an expert in in robotics and computers, not biological engineering, but that machinery had looked like cloning technology to him. Finally, Captain clued into the fact that Engie was still obsessing over the warehouses and sent him out on a mission to return to the area and find a unicorn. Engie protested but not as much as he normally would have. He was more curious than scared and he also really didn't like the idea of two Gromovs running around.

So Engie packed a small bag of things he would need and headed off on his mission. He would have liked to have one of the others with him but they all had missions of their own. However, without the others around, Engie could run away from his mission if things got too frightening without worrying about anyone making fun of him.

When Engie finally arrived, he was greeted by what he had expected. There were the remains of the destroyed building while the other warehouses stood untouched. However, there was a human-like figure moving around in the wreckage of the first building. Engie had not expected that. The figure was wearing the dull gray uniform of a Good Directorate technician. It was also wearing proper Dead Zone headgear as well. Engie couldn't tell if the figure was male, female, zombie or a mind controlled ANNET drone.

Worried, Engie tried to hide behind a nearby ruin but he disturbed some debris and alerted the figure to his presence. The figure turned around and quickly caught sight of him. He froze.

"Hey! Who are you?!" the figure yelled. "I warn you, I know how to fight!"

Engie fell on his ass in shock. That was a woman's voice.

"I'm Al-" Engie stopped himself. A woman could actually be one of ANNET's drones. ANNET always chose female-style androids. It would be best not to give himself away. "En-?" No, "Engie" would sound silly. The woman decided for him.

"Allen, is it? If you're a survivor of the fallout then come on down here. I know the wastelands are hostile and I have food and medical supplies. And a really big knife but you only need to worry about that if _you're_ hostile. I'm Charlene by the way."

"O-okay." Engie said.

When he had finally approached the woman he noticed that she was calmly standing there with one hand on her hip. She didn't seem worried at all. He pointed that out and the woman sighed. Then she explained that she hadn't seen any other humans in an extremely long time. It was better to treat a stranger with kindness than aggression. But she pointed out that she knew she faced special dangers as a female and was prepared to be aggressive.

"But I much rather be a nice guy than a jerk." She finished.

"Excellent policy." Engie said. "Do you live here?"

"Yes. For quite some time now. Why?" Charlene asked.

"I was exploring the area recently and I was wondering what those buildings are for. There aren't any other places nearby in that good of a condition." Engie said. He decided he wouldn't tell the girl anything in case she was playing him.

"Some sort of biological engineering place. It's not something I have any knowledge about." Charlene responded. "Listen, why don't you come inside that building there? It's relatively free of radiation and we can take off our masks. I'd rather not be outside for too long with dusk in a few hours. There's something about this place that attracts the mutants once it gets dark."

Engie nodded. He hoped he hadn't gotten himself into something he would regret. But he needed to know if he had been cloned and this girl might hold all the answers to that. That is, if she wasn't a clone herself.

**TBC**


	2. Chapter 2

**We Dream of the Future Generation**

_Dark Lady Devinity_

**Chapter Two**

The girl had a full round feminine face and intense blue eyes. She seemed to be quite easy going despite the intensity of her stare. Her hair, if she had any, was wrapped in a pale gray scarf and she explained that it helped to hide her gender.

"I'm not scared of people, although that might be because there aren't really any around." Charlene said. "But it doesn't hurt to be cautious."

She had made Engie sit while she hunted through a large black box. Suddenly cheerful, she pulled out a couple packages of beef jerky, some crackers and a bottle of water.

"I've got supplies hidden throughout the area in case of an emergency." Charlene said, handing half the food to Engie. "You know, you can take off the goggles. I don't steal eyeballs."

Engie's respirator hung around his neck but he had no intention of removing the goggles. "I'd rather not."

Charlene shrugged. "Suit yourself."

The girl then threw herself down on the floor and calmly began to eat. Engie wanted to ask why she wasn't bothered by his unexpected presence when a loud howl shattered the relatively quiet night. Engie jumped.

"What was that?" he asked.

"That would be why you're staying the night." Charlene explained. "The generators attract all sorts of mutants because they're so noisy. In fact, the generators should be kicking in any moment now. The beastie out there now is sensitive to light so he hunts during the time between dusk and the generators turning on the lights. The worse monsters will be out there all night."

Engie shivered.

"You don't have to worry. The walls here are pretty thick. Any creature capable of getting in hasn't tried yet." Charlene said. "Anyway, some ground rules are needed. You can ask me any question so long as it's not a personal one. I'll give you the same privacy. Also, I don't mind touching but, needless to say, sexual assault will be handled violently."

"You don't sound frightened though." Engie said.

"Well, with so few survivors running around, why would you risk an assault? I'm sure I'm of much more use to you and you to me if neither of us are injured. Also, I've chosen to live my life on the assumption that most people are good at heart. It's not smart but it gets me through the day." Charlene replied.

Engie nodded before starting in on a game of twenty questions with the girl. She wouldn't tell him her full name, age or even if she knew of other survivors and she didn't even try to ask him for the same information. Her goal was to keep people safe, whoever they may be. They ended up trading stories about their misadventures in the wasteland. At some point, Engie fell asleep. The girl never did, as far as he could tell. She didn't seem to be afraid of him but she had reacted with concern to a few of the noises occurring outside the building. She had likely been protecting the both of them when she chose to stay up all night.

She woke him up early the next morning.

"It's safe for you to go home now, wherever that may be." Charlene explained. "You can't stay here until I get to know you better."

Engie yawned. "So you're staying here then?"

"For now. It's not that bad of a base if you don't mind scary machinery and monster attracting generators." Charlene replied.

Engie allowed the girl to lead him to the door and out into pale, gray, almost-sunshine. Charlene made a light-hearted comment about how it was the first beautiful day they had had in a while.

"You really aren't afraid I'll come back with other men to hurt you?" the engineer asked her.

"In this world? I'm more afraid of people not coming back at all." Was her simple reply.

**XxX**

"It's not a unicorn building facility." Engie muttered when he finally made it back to the base. Captain seemed disappointed at first but then he was distracted by something Pilot had found.

"You were gone for a long time. Did you learn anything important?" Snippy asked.

Engie sighed. "No, not really. The generators still work. I suppose they could be solar powered but we haven't seen real sunlight in decades. But the noise they make attracts mutants so I had to stay the night locked up in one of the buildings."

Snippy frowned. "I would have liked to stay somewhere with electricity but that place was scary."

Engie agreed completely.

**XxX**

If he agreed completely with Snippy then why was he back at the facilities three days later? Engie refused to admit that he liked being shown real human kindness by a person who wasn't insane or potentially hated him. It didn't even matter who that person was. But if asked he would simply say that he wanted to study the equipment in the facilities.

"Are you lonely or just curious?" a voice asked, interrupting Engie's thoughts.

Engie gasped, clutching his heart. He looked up to see Charlene standing above him on a piece of ruined foundation. A hand gun was strapped to her hip.

"It's not for shooting people. It barely even works half the time." Charlene said, climbing down the ruin to stand beside Engie.

"Can you read minds?!" the engineer asked her.

"You were staring."

"Oh."

"I wasn't actually expecting you to come back." Charlene said conversationally. "You seem… skittish."

"Most people call it cowardice." Engie laughed bitterly.

Charlene shrugged. "Let them. Opinions don't exactly matter in the wasteland. Anyway, Mr. Coward, want to become a brave man by joining me on patrol?"

"I was hoping to look at the equipment." Engie said.

"Not without me, you can't. I could have the buildings booby-trapped for all you know. Or, more likely, I could be using one of the machines as a place to hang my bras."

"Um… what?"

"It's a long story and, I just want to point this out, it was not my idea to hang my few bras off a piece of machinery that does God knows what. My life is just that… I don't even have a word for what my life is." Charlene sighed. "But I do know that the mutants attack each other and if I don't destroy the corpses new mutants will be attracted by the blood. You coming?"

"… I'm going to regret this."

**XxX**

"Canned beans. More resilient to the apocalypse than cockroaches." Charlene murmured.

Engie found himself laughing.

**XxX**

Life continued on in this manner for some time. Engie would go and visit Charlene every three or four days. He'd leave early in the morning so that he could return safely to the base before darkness set in. Sometimes Charlene would walk him home. She had quickly come to understand that she was the stronger and faster of the two. It made her worry about him. Engie didn't mind. It was like having Snippy watch his back but without the sarcasm.

He had also learned that Charlene wasn't that much of a girl anymore. At twenty-five or so, she could take down a mutant with a faulty gun even if she couldn't keep track of her clothes. And, somehow, Engie had become friends with this half-crazed, full grown woman.

**XxX**

A month into their odd friendship, Charlene hit Engie with an unexpected proposition.

"We should have sex." Charlene said over a can of cold chicken noodle soup. "I've never had the chance to try it before."

Engie started to choke violently on a particularly long piece of noodle. As Charlene pounded him on the back, she said "Don't worry. That wasn't a love confession. I was just thinking it would be fun. Maybe a friends with benefits kind of thing? If we didn't like it then we'd never have to do it again."

"Why?!"

She shrugged. "I'm curious."

"But… you're a girl! Girls don't like that sort of thing!"

"In case you haven't noticed, society is dead. I can do whatever I want."

**XxX**

By the time she finally got him naked, Engie had been convinced that she was a real girl and not a clone. But when Charlene finally revealed dark brown hair- combined with those intense blue eyes- there was something eerily familiar about her. Yet it was not the opportune time to question it so Engie didn't.

He'd regret that.

**TBC**

The bit about the bras will be explained in the author's notes in the next chapter.


	3. Chapter 3

**We Dream of the Future Generation**

_Dark Lady Devinity_

**Chapter Three**

Charlene was lazily watching Engie search for his boots. The woman had already dressed in that comfortable manner some women had and had settled down to gaze Engie down with her intense stare. Every so often she'd offer a catty grin. She was pleased that she had finally convinced him to play around with her. Engie didn't appreciate being teased but he wasn't sure if this sort of teasing was a bad thing. Although it was distracting him from finding his pants and shoes.

However, his search was interrupted when a red haired woman burst into the room. Engie jumped and shamelessly cowered behind Charlene. Charlene had also jumped in surprise but she didn't seem all that concerned about the other girl's presence. The other girl seemed very concerned about theirs though.

"Who's that?" the girl asked.

"His name is Allen." Charlene replied calmly. "Allen, this is my sister Steph."

Steph hitched the rifle up higher on her shoulder and directed her gaze on Engie before turning it back to her sister. Charlene blushed and Steph frowned, directing her gaze back onto Engie. She started long and hard at his bare legs, clearly wondering if his boxers had been in the process of coming off or being put back on.

Engie had not been able to place what was so familiar about Charlene's intense blue eyes. But when he saw Stephanie's hard stare with those same clear blue eyes, he knew. _Snippy._

"Why do you have a rifle?" Engie asked.

It was Charlene who answered. "Steph has the same hand-eye coordination as our father. She's an amazing shot."

"I'm a determined shot." Steph corrected. Her brow furrowed with an unhappy thought. "It appears that I have Dad's bad luck too."

"Oh?" Engie asked. The girl knew. She had to know.

Steph hummed. "You look just like Anne."

"Who's Anne?" Engie asked with dread.

"Anne Gromov." Charlene replied cautiously. "Her father created ANNET. Steph, I thought we weren't going to mention Anne in front of strangers?"

"I'm not so sure it's an issue in this situation." Steph said.

That proved it. This warehouse was a cloning and genetic altering facility. The Good Directorate had been designing one before ANNET tried to destroy humanity. The purpose was to build new humans, instantly send them into adulthood using human growth hormone and farm their organs for the original owners of the DNA. The DNA could be rearranged, chromosomes destroyed or altered, so that the originals could choose better physical qualities. People could also be downloaded into the new bodies using the neural interface. Somehow, Engie and the others had their DNA copied and the machine had manipulated it, destroying the Y chromosomes and switching out alleles: that was how there was a Snippy girl identical to the original and a red headed Snippy girl with the original's eyes. With complete memories and adult bodies. But why would the machine program the girls to think that the originals were their fathers? These girls had no other source of genetic material besides Snippy so a paternity test would show that they shared the same parents as Snippy, making Snippy more like a brother than father. The girls were, for all intent and purpose, Snippy himself. And Engie had slept with one! Then Engie remembered his clone.

"How many of you are there?" Engie asked. "Can I, uh, see this Anne?"

"I doubt you're a threat so I have problem brining her up. But you should know that Anne is off limits. If you're after revenge for ANNET killing everybody, that's fine." Steph said. "I'd like to punch Gromov in the throat myself. But that girl wasn't even born yet when ANNET was built."

Yes, this particular person was Charles Snippy, just with a vagina and red hair.

Engie shook his head. "No, I just wanted to know if there were more of you. Charlene didn't mention other survivors and there doesn't look to be enough supplies for even just two of you."

Steph crossed her arms and glared. Engie turned to Charlene.

Charlene sighed. "My sister is fiercely overprotective. She's a complete mother bear. We're not allowed to talk about each other with strangers because she thinks they'll hunt us all down and kill us. Anyway, there are four of us all together. Myself and Steph, Anne, and Cap Hatchenson. Cap's the only boy in our group. I guess with so many girls it's understandable why Steph thinks we'd be prime targets for abuse. But that requires other people to even _exist."_

"He exists, doesn't he? And it looks like he's already used you for sex." Steph snapped.

"It's not like I didn't use him back!" Charlene snapped back.

Engie ignored the sisters although he knew it wasn't a good idea. He now knew that Snippy, Pilot and himself had at least on clone each. But why not…

"Shouldn't there be a child of Captain as well?" Engie asked aloud.

"Ha! Apparently the Captain's DNA is too awesome and no woman could survive carrying his mighty seed." Steph said bitterly. "Cap's named for the Captain. His dad was totally in love with him."

"They say the only thing Captain ever loved was a billboard." Charlene said.

"Take him to Anne." Steph said.

"Really?" Charlene asked, surprised.

Steph glared. "Yes, really. I think there's a lot that needs to be said and Anne is the best one to handle it."

"Oookay. But you're acting weird sis." Charlene said. "Come on Allen. Your pants are over here."

Engie gulped but grabbed his pants before following Charlene as she walked out the door. He wondered what his sister-clone would be like.

**XxX**

Charlene led Engie out of the building and into another one. She then took him down a narrow hallway into what must have been the quarters for the lower level technicians. Finally she stopped in front of an unadorned door but she paused momentarily. Then she turned to face Engie.

"How haven't I met any of these people before? I'm here all of the time!" Engie cried.

The girl sighed. "I told you I wasn't going to answer personal questions until I could trust you, remember? Do you think I'd be stupid enough to take you into any of our living quarters? Anne doesn't leave this building and Cap often stays with her so she doesn't get lonely. Anne's a bit… odd. Steph's out in the wastelands scavenging all day while I handle mutant corpse patrol around the base so she's never here. That building we stayed in the first time you visited is the same one we just had sex in. It's my special building that I go to when the others are driving me up the wall. Steph should never have been in there. Goddammit, I don't know what she's thinking about telling you about Anne! I just wanted to know what it would be like to be with someone, you know? I wasn't going to risk anyone else's safety though. Christ. I don't care if you hurt me but if you hurt any of the others… well, my sister isn't the only one that Dad taught to use a rifle. Steph should know that!"

Engie nodded, too afraid to say anything. He hadn't realised how much of Charles was in this one as well. She was just more forthcoming than he was.

Charlene sighed and then opened the door.

"Annette? I have someone here that Steph thinks you should meet." Charlene called.

"Annette?" Engie muttered just as a female voice called out for them to come in.

Charlene pushed Engie gently into the room where a brown haired woman stood up to greet them. Engie froze. The woman looked to be a few years younger than him and she was clearly female but other than that she looked just like him. She looked frightened upon seeing him but then her body relaxed.

"I can see why Steph wanted me to talk to him." Anne said calmly. "You can leave Charlene."

"Are you sure?" Charlene asked. "Cause, um, I slept with him and Steph didn't kill him and I've been wondering if you were after building a torture device for situations like these."

"Um, okay. That was more than I needed to know and I don't have a contingency plan for people who sleep with our leader's sister. How would I even know that Steph needed your honour defended? You're the one who should have twin telepathy with her, not me." Anne said, horrified. "And yes, I'm sure that you should go."

Charlene frowned but she didn't protest. She reassuringly squeezed Engie's arm before slipping out of the room and closing the door behind her.

"Alexander." Anne sighed her greeting.

""You know me?" Engie asked, startled.

"Of course I know you. I was expecting you to get here before now. What surprised me is the fact that Steph didn't shoot you in the head." Anne said.

"She's a little bit frightening. Why is that?" Engie asked. "Charles never inspires fear as quickly as she did."

"Besides the fact that you apparently slept with her sister? You've realised that we're clones right? And those machines are what made us?"

"Yes."

"Well, Steph got the worse of it. The machines created her based on Snippy's memories _after_ the neural interface. She always has nightmares. She has been engineered to. Charlene is, well, I suppose she's what Snippy would be if he had average luck. Cap's a little crazy and has an odd relationship with shoes but he's alright. As for me, I got to be named after a psychopathic computer program. And I've got your brain. I always knew I wasn't real."

Anne frowned. "Captain's DNA was too much for the initial machines to take and they exploded. By then, everyone else's DNA had been transferred into another building. It was replicated and then manipulated. They made a replica of your body and of Pilot's and one girl version each. I'm not sure why the machines made two female Snippys and no males. Then the DNA headed to the machines that made our bodies and then we were programed. I found the technical manuals. Our brains are partly computers. There were flaws as the machines had been finished just before ANNET's drones got this far into the facilities. That's why I know so much. I am Annette Gromov, with her own memories, but I'm also very much Alexander Gromov whereas the others have minds that are completely unique. I figured out the machines quickly enough and told Stephanie everything. She's our leader as we don't have a super lucky Captain to follow. But we never told the others."

Engie frowned. "That means that…"

"That she knew who you were as soon as she saw you? Yes, it does." Anne replied. "And I know she can't be pleased that you slept with her sister. Oh, don't look so horrified. Charlene was always interested in men. She's the most normal when it came to psychosexual development. She's the most normal when it comes to any form of development."

Engie swallowed hard. He couldn't believe he had forgotten that Charlene may not be real.

Anne noticed his discomfort. "Would you like to look over the computers yourself? Everything's there, even our genetic code and everything we've been programmed to do, feel or think. I didn't understand the biology behind it all but I understood everything technical which means that you will too."

Engie nodded, finally back to something he was familiar with. "Yes, I would like to see the computers."

Then, Engie pondered something else she had said. "You mentioned a female Pilot and another me. How come no one's brought them up?"

"I also said the machines are faulty." Anne said. She frowned. "There were… chromosomal problems. The clones weren't viable and they died. They're still in the cloning chambers."

Anne then led him to the programming labs. Decapitated skeletons littered the way: evidence that ANNET had come to the facility even if it was that far away from the city. The further they travelled, the more Engie began to wonder if society had taken medical science too far.

**TBC**

**A/n: **It's Cap that keeps stealing Charlene's clothes. He's doing what Captain and Pilot always do to Snippy- pranking him while he sleeps- but Cap does it out of affection because he views Charlene as his big sister. She's the only one out of the three girls that's consistently nice.

Also, I've been told that Charlene puts one of my friends in mind of Vagina Grayson (if any of you are into Batman you may be intrigued by such a person) and that made my life.


	4. Chapter 4

**We Dream of the Future Generation**

_Dark Lady Devinity_

**Chapter Four**

"You're not going to be able to stay."

Engie looked up from the glistening computer screen. He had been trying to read through as much of the computer program as fast as he could for the battery life was dying; the generators only kicked in at night. He had completely forgotten about his disconcertingly female clone. His own copper brown eyes were staring down at him.

"Steph probably wants to blow your brains out." Anne explained. "She was programmed to be defensive."

Looking at the computer screen, Steph was designed with a little more violence than just a defensive personality. Engie wouldn't have been surprised if that was because the engineers who had died at ANNET's hands had programmed a certain percentage of future clones to be soldiers into the computer. A lot of the programming appeared to have been changed just before Gromov had ordered the nuclear bombs to be dropped. A lot of the changes involved memories and identities.

Although there was something that just didn't seem right about all of this.

Sighing, Engie rubbed at his eyes. "I wasn't planning on staying." He admitted. He did fully plan on running back to the base as soon as possible. He would then hide from his squad mates until he forgot that he had ever had a clone. Knowing that he existed as two people was frightening. He was going to learn what he could from the computers and then leave the clones behind forever.

**XxX**

"He's not going to be able to stay."

Charlene shrugged, not bothered by her sister's over-protective nagging. "We might not be able to stay either. The generators are failing."

Steph stilled. The sisters were both looking for mutant corpses from last night's hunts so they were wearing their protective gear. Charlene couldn't see her sister's face but she could visualize her horrified expression.

"The main building still gets power at night so you haven't noticed. I was always the only one interested in keeping up maintenance in the others buildings." Charlene sighed. "The storage sheds haven't lit up in the last two nights. The defence systems are down too in the sheds. I think one of the snake mutants got into the Shed 3B. Generator Six doesn't work at all. The tools to fix it was in Shed 3B so you can imagine what the mutie did if I can safely say that even Anne's amazing engineering skills couldn't fix the generator with those tools now."

"If the other five are still working then we'll manage." Steph said.

"Don't underestimate Generator Six, sis. Two of the buildings have been compromised already. Six was the one that kept the outer buildings air tight. The air quality is actually worse in those buildings now than what it is out here. Generator Five keeps the inner buildings airtight but… I don't know anything about machinery. It doesn't look good. This place didn't hold up to the nuclear bombs as well as it appeared to." Then Charlene's tone turned concerned. "That's not even an issue considering the state of the world. But this is a high traffic area for the mutants. They're capable of getting into the buildings when the power isn't on and they've been attacking the generators. Plus, I've seen them out there _mating_. I didn't know they could reproduce. We are in the middle of mutie territory."

"You've been going out at night again, haven't you?" Steph accused.

"That's what you got out of that?" Charlene asked with an eyebrow raised. "Stephanie, you are ten minutes older than me, tops. Not ten years. I'll do what I want. But Anne hasn't left the main building in years and Cap actually is ten years younger than you. You don't often let him outside and, even if you did, he stays in there to take care of Anne cause he knows she's cowardly. I don't know what we're going to do when this place is no longer viable."

Frowning, Steph thought of all the things she could have told Charlene. Neither Charlene nor Cap knew that they had only existed for about a month and a bit, instead of fifteen plus years. As Anne put it, they were perfectly programmed. It would be tragic to shatter the identities that Charlene and Cap had built for themselves. But Anne had never left the main building and Cap had never left the compound. Charlene couldn't be reasoned with some days so she had managed to see more of the wasteland. And now it turned out that their original DNA sources were closer than Steph was happy with it. Steph wished that she could have figured out that the cloning facilities were failing before Charlene did but there was little that could be done about that now.

"I'm just concerned is all. It's dangerous." Steph sighed. That was an understatement.

"You're just a pessimist." Charlene countered. That was also an understatement.

**XxX**

It was safe to say that although Engie had learned a lot he had also been confused by a lot. Anne was little help as the part he most needed help with was the part she didn't understand either. Many of the basic characteristics that the cloning programming emphasised where outlined but when it came to actual traits, the mechanisms behind chromosome and gender manipulation, everything that made a person a person, Engie and Anne were lost. And it was all because Alexander had had trouble grasping the biological sciences as a student. Engie spent five minutes staring at a seemingly endless stream of the letters a, g, t, and c on the computer screen, knowing that the letters were the codes of genes.

Eventually he had to give up and let Anne lead him to the exit. She wouldn't follow him out though.

"You wouldn't have ever left your bunker if there wasn't a problem with your oxygen pump and then ANNET." Anne said. "One of us might as well get to go through with that plan."

Engie nodded then thought for a minute. "I noticed that there was programming so that not all of the clones were the same age. Are you the youngest?"

Anne startled. "We're all the same age, technically. But no, I'm not the youngest. Cap is. He's only fifteen. I'm twenty and the twins are twenty-five. Your other clone would have been my twin and Pilot's other clone would have been Cap's twin. We actually have memories of the two failures. The machines didn't recognise them as non-viable so they died in pods were our bodies were constructed. I told the others that they went out on a walk too late one night and got eaten. That's why Charlene and Cap think I never leave the main building. Cap actually thinks he's protecting me in the way he never could his sister by never leaving either. I'm surprised he hasn't found us by now actually."

"I'm not entirely sure that I want to meet a fifteen year old Pilot." Engie said.

"He's not entirely crazy." Anne said, knowing that Engie was thinking about how childish and violent Pilot could be. "Cap is quite the oddball but he manages well."

"I'm not odd!" a young, not quite masculine voice cried out from nowhere. Engie and Anne both jumped, startled, before relaxing at the sight of a young male swinging himself down from a vent in the ceiling. The boy had shockingly bright green eyes and messy blond hair.

"Captain Hatchenson, what were you doing up in that vent and why were you eavesdropping?" Anne demanded. She seemed worried and Engie remembered that Cap wasn't supposed to know that he was a clone.

"I wasn't eavesdropping. I only heard you call me an oddball." Cap accused. "I was planning a trap for Charley."

Anne sighed. "He likes to prank Charlene."

"That explains her comment on her vanishing bras." Engie muttered. "Do all Hatchensons terrorize Snippys?"

"It's actually sibling love in this situation, believe it or not." Anne said.

"Annie, who's the shoe?" Cap whined. "I thought we weren't allowed to talk to strangers. Do I have to tell Steph on you?"

"Steph already knows. And it's Charlene that's in trouble not me." Anne explained. "He's her newest plaything."

The chances that Charlene had met other survivors were slim to none, especially considering how long she had been alive. So what did Anne mean by 'plaything'? Engie decided he didn't want to know.

Cap frowned. "How does he feel about shoes?"

Engie was bemused. "I like shoes? They're practical?"

Cap threw his hands in the air, frustrated. "Charley has the worst taste in toys!" Then the young man stormed away from the two Gromovs, apparently disgusted by Engie.

Engie certainly wouldn't want the young Pilot-clone as a son. Then that thought triggered the thing that had been bothering Engie and he finally realised what it was.

"Your personalities! Why do you have them?" Engie demanded.

"Just because I'm you doesn't mean that I instinctively understand everything you're talking about." Anne snapped. "Why wouldn't we have personalities?"

"Spare parts don't need to think or feel emotionally. They certainly don't need to be functional people." Engie pointed out. "Your minds are too complicated to be last minute reprogramming."

"Oh. _That_. I already had that thought and moved on from it. I think it has something to do with this event that happened when we, that is, you, were in university. Remember when the young son of that rich family passed away? There were rumours that they were planning to have their son cloned and his mind downloaded into the clone. It would have been like he had never died." Anne said. "I think this facility may have been creating clones to replace the dead."

He did remember that story. Some of his classmates had wanted to work on such a project. The common people may have thought re-creating the dead was amoral but it excited the curious minds of young scientists. Engie shivered. He didn't want to talk about dead people. "This is a little creepy."

Anne frowned. "At least you know why you exist. All I have are theories. Last minute reprogramming and plans to re-create the dead doesn't explain the unique memories in our heads or why we think that the original DNA are parental units. I doubt we'll ever know why we're the way we are."

Engie didn't appreciate being called the "original DNA" or a "parental unit." It was too clinical for him. His nerves were frayed from the complicated moral issues and general creepiness involved with the current scenario. It was also getting later and he needed to get back to the base before the worst of the mutants came out. He shuffled nervously (how does one say goodbye to their clone?) before muttering a quick farewell and hurrying away. Anne seemed startled but she didn't say anything. She knew better than anyone how bad he was with the more social aspects of interaction.

He walked with a hasty pace more so than ran but he still managed to crash into a Snippy. As they wore identical technician clothes and face gear, he didn't know which one was which and he didn't much care… except for the fact that Charlene was his sort-of-friend and Steph just needed a good excuse to kill him so he did care. Quite a lot actually.

The Snippy he didn't knock over hauled him to his feet.

"I'll take him back home Steph. He's shaking and dusk isn't far off." Engie's helper claimed.

Steph angrily stood up. "You'll do no such thing."

"You should have thought of that before you let Annette do whatever it was she did to him." Charlene replied.

"Then I'll go."

"I'm faster. Give me the rifle."

Engie watched the silent battle of wills before Steph huffed and gave Charlene the rifle. The brunette shouldered it gracefully before taking Engie's hand and leading him away.

**XxX**

They were halfway to the base when Charlene finally said, "You're never coming back, are you?"

Engie imaged cold machinery, rotting clones and hundreds of copper-eyed engineers. "No."

Charlene hummed; it was a deep, thoughtful sound low in her throat. She didn't seem angry at him but Engie couldn't guess what she was thinking. But Charles could be very insightful sometimes and Engie wondered if Charlene was the same.

He'd probably never know.

**TBC**

**A/n:** I originally had them all around ages 20-25. But then Cap disagreed with me while I was trying to get ready for school. I feel like a teenaged Pilot is a bad thing though.

Also, if anyone was wondering, the basic idea for this entire story came from the _Doctor Who_ episode "The Doctor's Daughter" (series 4, episode 6, 10th Doctor). And the whole 'family lost child so wanted a cloned one' loosely came from _A. I. Artificial Intelligence_ (a movie with Jude Law and Haley Joel Osment), which was actually about androids. I bet it would actually be quite easy to work both _Doctor Who_ and _A. I._ into the RA universe.


End file.
